Kaito Shuts Down Yaps After X Bans Incentivized Posts, Launches Kaito Studio

Web3 analytics and marketing platform Kaito is entering a new phase after the social media platform X announced plans to shut down reward-based posting models. The change has pushed Kaito to sunset its popular Yaps program and introduce a new product, Kaito Studio, signaling a bigger shift in how crypto projects approach marketing, creators, and incentives.

X Cracks Down on Incentivized Content

X recently updated its policies to restrict applications that reward users for posting content, a move aimed at reducing spam and low-quality engagement. These models, often referred to as “InfoFi,” had encouraged users to post frequently in exchange for points or tokens, which over time led to overcrowded timelines and declining content quality.

As a result, platforms relying on permissionless reward distribution, including Kaito’s Yaps, lost access to key infrastructure. The policy shift made it clear that open incentive systems were no longer compatible with X’s direction.

In response, Kaito founder Yu Hu announced a major strategic shift for Kaito, confirming that the platform is officially sunsetting Yaps and its incentivized leaderboards to usher in a new phase called Kaito Studio. Yaps was originally designed around Web3’s permissionless ideals, rewarding users and creators purely on merit for helping brands grow visibility. While the concept aligned strongly with crypto-native values, ongoing challenges around spam, low-quality content, and shifting platform dynamics made the model increasingly difficult to sustain.

Why the Yaps Model Fell Short

Over the past year, Kaito experimented with stricter eligibility rules, higher leaderboard thresholds, and a mix of social and on-chain filters. Despite these efforts, broader changes to X’s algorithm and the rise of other InfoFi projects, many with minimal or no filters, meant content quality issues persisted across the crypto ecosystem. At the same time, teams using Kaito began shifting away from mass distribution and airdrop-heavy strategies toward more targeted, performance-driven approaches.

After extensive internal discussions and coordination with X, Kaito concluded that a fully permissionless incentive system no longer aligned with the needs of serious brands, high-quality creators, or the platform itself.

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Looking Beyond Crypto and CT

Yu Hu also framed this transition within a broader evolution of crypto itself. As the ownership-economy narrative fades, crypto’s biggest opportunity lies in becoming infrastructure for real-world finance, powering payments, stablecoins, tokenization, and global markets. In line with this view, Kaito plans to move beyond Crypto Twitter and beyond crypto as its core vertical in 2026.

Other Kaito products remain unaffected, and the KAITO token will continue to play a role in Kaito Studio, with more details to come.

Will Kaito Answer X Users?

Some users reacted with concern to Kaito’s shift away from Yaps. BAEK_PRO questioned how rewards will be handled for ongoing campaigns and asked whether “high-quality creators” will still be judged using Yaps metrics or a new evaluation system.

Meanwhile, Erequendi criticized the move, saying Kaito now looks more like a closed marketing agency, where rewards may keep going to the same group of creators, potentially limiting fair access for others.

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